Archive for the ‘Baby Teeth’ Category
Baby Tooth Blues
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
In this age of disposable everything from diapers to cell phones, baby teeth, also called primary or deciduous, are even considered disposable by some people. There is a growing attitude that since they are destined to be eventually lost, it doesn’t matter what happens to them along the way. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
There are 20 baby teeth in all that start to appear from 0 to 2 years old and systematically disappear from age 6 to about 13. Each one has a corresponding permanent tooth that develops underneath it, dissolving the baby root. During that time the permanent molars come in further back as the jaw grows larger to accommodate more and bigger teeth. That’s in an ideal world, but as you know, life never works out as planned. Besides accidents and decay, other problems, such as misalignment and developmental abnormalities can arise. I like to take every opportunity to remind parents about a common condition called baby bottle decay that occurs in children under 4 years old. If your baby uses a bottle or a sipper cup between meals, make sure it contains only water. Other types of drinks, even juice and milk, will cause decay to run out of control as the teeth are constantly bathed in nutrients that feed the bacteria. Because of this and other developmental problems that are so critical at that early age, we offer to provide all treatment of any child under 4 years old, at no charge as an incentive to give them a good start in life.
During the life of the baby teeth, the most frequent question we get about their care is whether it’s really necessary to treat them if they get cavities. I try to only treat them if they pose a potential hazard. It’s kind of a race between whether the tooth will be lost first, or the cavity will be a problem. Basically, if the child is 6 and has a cavity on a baby molar, then we need to fill it, but if the child is 11 or 12 and the cavity is small we usually let it slide. There are other mitigating circumstances of course, such as infection, the potential for the decay to spread to other teeth, and the need for space maintenance, but a more conservative approach is more in keeping with my mission statement: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, August 2008
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